High levels of neurotoxin detected in Monterey Bay fish

High levels of domoic acid have been detected in fish in the Monterey Bay.

According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the acid was found in Northern Anchovy and Pacific Sardine species. This prompted Fish & Wildlife to put fishing restrictions on both. They’re also warning people not to eat the fish and only use it as bait. Domoic acid is produced by certain types of marine algal blooms. It can temporarily build up in crabs, lobsters, clams, and other fish and shellfish, making them hazardous to eat for humans, marine mammals and birds.

Read more 35 publishers sue OpenAI, Microsoft for training ChatGPT with their content

It is a neurotoxin that can cause symptoms in humans and marine mammals such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea at lower doses, and seizures, coma, irreversible memory loss and death at higher doses.

Also, exposure to the acid was the cause of death for one juvenile humpback whale and a likely contributing cause for the other after the two stranded less than 10 miles apart in Monterey Bay earlier this month, according to a media release from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Monterey Bay and the Central California coast continue to experience exceptionally high levels of domoic acid-producing algae. Researchers said recent monitoring has documented some of the highest toxin concentrations seen in the region, with impacts already being observed across marine wildlife.

This story originally appeared on KSBW.